Walmart ends sales of some handgun, rifle ammunition

Wednesday

NEW YORK — Walmart says it will stop selling handgun and short-barrel rifle ammunition, while also requesting that customers not openly carry firearms in its stores, even where state laws allow it.

The announcement comes just days after a mass shooting claimed seven lives in Odessa, Texas, and follows back-to-back shootings last month, one of them at a Walmart store.

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The Bentonville, Arkansas-based discounter said Tuesday that it will stop selling handgun ammunition as well as short-barrel rifle ammunition, such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber used in military-style weapons, after it runs out of its current inventory.

Walmart also will discontinue handgun sales in Alaska. The company had stopped selling handguns in the mid-1990s with the exception of Alaska. The latest move marks its complete exit from that business and allows it to focus on hunting rifles and related ammunition.

"In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again," said a memo from Walmart's CEO Doug McMillon that was circulated to employees Tuesday afternoon. "The status quo is unacceptable."

The retailer is requesting that customers refrain from openly carrying firearms at its Walmart and Sam's Club stores unless they are law-enforcement officers. However, it said that it won't be changing its policy for customers who have permits for concealed carry. Walmart says it will be adding signs in stores to inform customers of those changes.

Last month, a gunman entered a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 people. The gunman used an AK-style rifle — one that Walmart already bans the sale of — in the deadliest shooting in the company's history. Texas became an open-carry state in 2016, allowing people to openly carry firearms in public.

Walmart's moves will reduce its market share of ammunition from around 20% to a range of about 6% to 9%, according to Tuesday's memo. About half of its more than 4,750 U.S. stores sell firearms, or around 2% of all U.S. firearms. Most firearms sales are done through thousands of unaffiliated gun shops or gun shows, not big retail chains.

A number of gun control activists praised Walmart's moves. Gun manufacturers such as Vista Outdoors and Smith & Wesson parent company American Outdoor Brands Corp. saw their shares fall.

Other companies also have responded to public pressure to restrict gun sales. Dick's Sporting Goods announced in March that it would stop selling firearms and ammunition at 125 of its 700-plus locations. Kroger said last year that it would stop selling firearms and ammunition at its Fred Meyer stores in the Pacific Northwest. Kroger joined Walmart Tuesday in asking customers not to openly carry guns when they visit its stores.

"Walmart deserves enormous credit for joining the strong and growing majority of Americans who know that we have too many guns in our country and they are too easy to get," Igor Volsky, executive director and founder of Guns Down America, said in a prepared statement.

The National Rifle Association posted a tweet attacking Walmart's announcement.

"It is shameful to see Walmart succumb to the pressure of the anti-gun elites. Lines at Walmart will soon be replaced by lines at other retailers who are more supportive of America's fundamental freedoms," it said.

The nation's largest retailer has been facing increasing pressure to change its gun policies by gun-control activists, employees and politicians after the El Paso shooting and a second unrelated shooting in Dayton that killed nine people. A few days before that, two Walmart workers were killed by another worker at a store in Southaven, Mississippi.

The retailer has long found itself in an awkward spot with its customers and gun enthusiasts. Many of its stores are located in rural areas where hunters depend on Walmart to get their equipment. Walmart is trying to walk a fine line by trying to embrace its hunting heritage while being a more responsible retailer.

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